Percussion Instruments

music · sound · rhythm · ancient

Hit to make sound. Percussion instruments work by being struck, scraped, shaken, or rubbed with your hands or with special beaters. When you hit a drum, shake maracas, or bang a gong, you're making percussion music.

Among the oldest. Percussion instruments are believed to be some of the very first musical instruments humans ever created. Before people had flutes or stringed instruments, they were probably making rhythms with drums and shakers.

Many different types. Percussion instruments don't all work the same way. Some are idiophones that vibrate when hit (like cymbals), some are membranophones with stretched skin (like drums), and some are even chordophones with strings (like a piano, which you strike with hammers).

Players called percussionists. Musicians who play percussion instruments are called percussionists. They can play one instrument or learn many different ones, from timpani to xylophones to bells.